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A turn in which you are not hit might as well not be a turn at all. The AI almost never switches, and rarely boosts, so for all practical purposes in-game Dig, Fly, and Dive have few drawbacks. (Paralysis and Confusion give them big problems). Indeed, if your opponent is Poisoned or Burned, or using low PP attacks, the semi-invulnerability moves can be an advantage.

And don't forget multiples. You can get one Pokemon out of the way, while the other uses a move that targets all Pokemon.

That said, Fly's the only one I'd really use. I don't like Acrobatics because I like having items. (That said, Sharp Beak Fly falls just short of no item Acrobatics, and Life Orb and Choice Band aren't found outside the Battle Subway.) Not much gets Brave Bird, and other physical flying attacks are weak.

The missed turn is less efficient. That is a huge drawback and never an advantage. The situations you mentioned are as rare as the turn not mattering at all. Dig is always worse than Earthquake. Fly is always worse than Acrobatics/Brave Bird. Dive is always worse than Surf.

I can't help but think that having a section on the various commonly used move typing combinations would a great addition to this guide.

Just a few off the top of my head. I'll probably expand on these with info and examples later.

And I'm not including Shedinja in any of these calculations of how many Pokemon resist something.

"QuakeEdge" / psuedo-QuakeEdge (obvs): The use of Earthquake and Stone Edge together was extremely common during Gen 4, but the combination of Rock + Ground as been a staple since the beginning of the Pokemon franchise. Bronzong, Claydol, Torterra, Breloom, and Virizion are the only Pokemon that resist this.

"BoltBeam" / psuedo-BoltBeam (duh): The original common move combo, BoltBeam is Thunderbolt + Ice Beam, or any combination of Electric + Ice. Only resisted by Magnezone and Magneton, Lightningrod Seaking, and Volt Absorb Lanturn, iirc.

Water + Normal: Resisted by Empoleon, Giratina, and Dialgia, but hits everything else neutrally. One of the most common combinations out there; i.e. Waterfall + Return.

Water + Rock: Commonly used by Pokemon wielding both STABs like Kabutops, or Pokemon like Tyranitar and Aggron who need a decent coverage move against Ground-types. Hits everything but Water Absorb Quagsire, Storm Drain Gastrodon, Poliwrath, Kerudio, Breloom, and Virizion.

Water + Flying: Hits everything but Magnezone and Magneton, Lanturn, Dialgia, Empoleon, and Wash Rotom at least neutrally. Not exactly the best combination, but it does work quite well in certain circumstances in place of Water + Normal, Water + Rock, or Water + Dragon.

Water + Dragon: Only resisted by Empoleon. Another excellent one.

Fire + Dragon: Only resisted by Heatran. Quite possibly one of the best type combinations out there, it's excellent in places like the Battle Subway.

Dragon + Ground / "DracoQuake": One of Garchomp's favorites, but also commonly used by the other Dragons. Resisted by Bronzong and Skarmory, but hits everything else for neutral damage.

Ghost + Fighting: Arguably the best type combination in the game, there's not a single Pokemon that can resist both Ghost- and Fighting-type moves at the same time.

Water + Poison: Yes, I know Poison is a horrible typing for both offense and Defense, but it does get decent neutral coverage with Water-type moves. On certain Pokemon, it's better than Water + Normal.

That's all I can think of atm, anybody else?

Last edited by Eon Master; 25th April 2011 at 1:49 AM.

"I'm fighting because there's a battle to be fought, Archer. I'm fighting to win. That's all."

"Hm. Alright, Rin. You are indeed my ideal Master. There is no one else I could hope to serve."

I was surprised that no-one picked up on this sooner, tbh. It is true that there are no known figures or statistics relating to hax, since as far as I know it's never been looked into so really the whole thing is, to an extent, luck. But I can only believe in the idea of luck so far. The kind of things I hear and experience so often from my chats with other IGRMTers are simply ridiculous. Working out numbers it's not uncommon for the AI to hit circumstances that have a several-thousand to one chance. While it is true (as you mentioned in your last post itt) that the player occasionally gets lucky, I find it completely undeniable that the AI does something to increase the chance of otherwise incredibly unlikely outcomes, even if they are in your favour. I feel that a player must be ready for these times, whether or not they believe in them.

Sometimes I am also astounded at how much Hax luck the AIs have but I also wonder if it's just mental: Maybe it just feels like it's more when it's to your disadvantage.

Plus, the AI computers utilize Hax so much that it's going to yield more results than a player who doesn't rely on it.

The thing is in the first 20 or so i'm just focused on sweeping and not giving the opponent a chance so it can be hard to tell. In BW i've only got to 43 or something with my heartgold team i transferred over i hope i can get further with my new one though

The Team Building Guide by myself and the Raters' Guide by Kerech have been merged together (after some awfully sloppy moderation by joe ¬¬) into this one thread. Questions related to the content of the guides should be directed to this thread from now on, please! If you'd like to make suggestions or corrections for these guides, then this thread is going to stay open to take them.

Additionally, First Turn charge moves should be avoided for the same reason. They are Dive, Dig, Fly, Razor Wind, Sky Attack, Skull Bash, Solarbeam, and Shadow Force. Focus Punch is not one of these moves.

got 'em already. although i might as well as change the wording around a bit to give them their own section or summat.

^Smogon does have some helpful articles on the Battle Tower and Random Matchup, but is largely centred on competitive pokemon while we focus mainly on a regular in-game playthrough.
Their analysis' do provide an in-depth look at pokemon but competitive and in-game do have several big differences and certain tactics such as stall aren't nearly as effective in-game. I won't deny that Smogon is a good site but as a resource for in-game it falls flat.

Personally, I prefer Serebii since it has pokemon locations, levelup moves, TMs and HMs and a lot of other things that are important for in-game playthroughs.

Team building

Hi, i am new and this is my first post. And before you go thinking i am a nube, i have completed the national pokedex. I just need a little advice. My current team, or the one i will create, has a samurott, dusknoir, zoroark, and archeops.
I have done pretty well with move diversity but have yet to EV train them, and i need to know which stats to boost and suggestions for two more Pokemon to put on my team. If you want to email me( yeah, right), my email is jamiecaron1998@icloud.com. No caps. Please write back!

I have a flyer but it is not part of my main team. I wonder if I should train up Braviary instead of Vespiquen, but here are my concerns.

-I love using Vespiquen, I haven't used it too much before.
-I do not know if I will have enough type coverage for psychics if I use Braviary instead.
-The only problem I have with Vespiquen is that it's not too powerful and it is kind of slow.

What should I use? I would love to have Braviary because he is powerful and can learn fly.